Swiftee: Artist

Swiftee's "Life In The Dumpster" - his crude, tasteless, scatological, juvenile whack at the endless, comical sanctimony that is "Dump Bachmann" - is a hit.

Or at least, it's reeled in a bunch of gullible cartoon geeks on this forum.

You can always tell when you've riled up an "artist"; they start sputtering about all the artistic dues they paid that you didn't, and credentials, and the background of your wretched little oeuvre.

Ken Avidor - a dismal little man whose space would seem to be the inept Photoshop - has his hackles in a bunch over last Friday's LID:

Great comic, Swiftee... I really mean it.

Can you tell us a little about your technique and your influences?

Who are your favorite political cartoonists?

What do you think of Ted Rall?

I'll take this:

His technique is a rejection - nay, an abnegation of traditional, bourgeois notions of "technique" as practiced by mainstream cartoon art. It dances on the grave of the outmoded, stale "looks like something" school of the form that less-interesting old-school "artists" like Rall and Avidor practice.

Clearly, his favorite political cartoonist is you, Ken Avidor.

The Rall influence should be obvious; Swiftee has taken Rall's lack of talent as either an artist or observer and turned them not only into virtues, but indeed statements themselves.

Modern cartooning has been racing to the bottom of the pond for decades. It must hurt to see someone like Swiftee beating you there by a couple of lengths.

I feel your pain.

Posted by Mitch at August 29, 2005 05:22 AM | TrackBack